In a hilltop village in the Kumaon region, an elderly couple contemplate death by suicide. The landscape that provides gorgeous backdrops and towering trees has failed to shelter Tulsi (Heera Devi) and Padam (Padam Singh) from gnawing loneliness.
Tulsi and Padam have been married for over 60 years. Their only son Harish left the village years ago, never to return. There is little to look forward to for the goat herders except an unchanging routine and deteriorating health. The village has all but emptied out, with only a few neighbours left, who have to be summoned by blowing on a trumpet.
A bout of illness means an arduous trek to a health centre that is miles away. The couple bicker in an endearing way, and their love for each other is undiminished by age, but the remoteness of their dwellings is wearing them down.
Vinod Kapri’s Pyre is out in cinemas. Despite its downbeat theme and bare-bones plot, the Hindi-language film is an engaging and thought-provoking account of old age, isolation and genteel poverty. The absence of basic amenities in the village, as well as the shuttered homes of families that have migrated to the plains and other cities, quietly point to systemic neglect.
The 115-minute film is led...